Regulation V — Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 12 CFR Part 1022

Updated 2026-06-09

Regulation V, Reg V, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and 12 CFR Part 1022 all name the same federal credit-reporting rule. Regulation V is the implementing regulation for the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which is codified at 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq. and implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) at 12 CFR Part 1022. FCRA regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer credit information, with the goal of promoting the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information held by consumer reporting agencies. Together with its amendment, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) of 2003, it sets the rules a mortgage loan originator must follow when obtaining and using a credit report. It is a heavily tested federal law on the NMLS SAFE MLO national exam.

Regulation V Scope (FCRA and FACTA)

Regulation V (12 CFR Part 1022) implements both the FCRA and its FACTA amendment. Its core subject areas are:

• Accuracy and integrity of information — duties of furnishers and users of consumer-report information to ensure the data they report and rely on is accurate.
• Identity-theft prevention — including the Red Flags Rule.
• Consumer rights — access to credit reports, dispute and reinvestigation procedures, and fraud alerts.

FACTA and the Red Flags Rule (Regulation V)

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) of 2003 amended FCRA to prevent and detect identity theft and improve the accuracy of consumer credit information. Key FACTA provisions:

• Fraud alerts — consumers may place fraud alerts on their credit files.
• Free annual credit reports — consumers are entitled to one free report each year from each of the three major nationwide bureaus.
• Truncation of credit-card numbers on receipts.
• Disposal Rule — businesses must take reasonable measures to dispose of sensitive consumer-report information.
• Red Flags Rule — financial institutions and creditors must develop and implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft.

Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) under FCRA / Regulation V

Consumer reporting agencies (also called credit bureaus) collect and maintain consumer credit information and sell it to businesses as credit reports. The three major nationwide bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. They receive payment and account data from lenders and servicers, compile it into credit reports, and that data drives the credit scores lenders use to assess a borrower's creditworthiness.

FCRA / Regulation V Adverse Action in Mortgage Lending

When a loan application is denied based in whole or in part on information in a consumer credit report, FCRA requires the lender to provide the consumer an adverse-action notice. That notice identifies the consumer reporting agency that supplied the report and informs the consumer of the right to obtain a free copy of the report and to dispute inaccurate information. This FCRA adverse-action notice is distinct from — but commonly confused with — the ECOA / Regulation B adverse-action notice.

Enforcement and NMLS Exam Relevance

Regulation V / FCRA is enforced by the CFPB and the FTC. For mortgage loan originators, the key exam points are: the purpose of FCRA (accuracy, fairness, and privacy of credit information), the Red Flags Rule's written Identity Theft Prevention Program, the FACTA consumer protections (fraud alerts, free annual reports, disposal rule), and the FCRA adverse-action notice triggered by a credit-report-based denial.